London: Former Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi, who is locked in a struggle to form a new government after inconclusive polls, said in an interview on Sunday he had
been warned of plots to assassinate him.

Allawi, who won the most seats in March elections but not enough to form a government on his own, told Britain`s The Times newspaper that he had received warnings from American generals and Iraqi officials about plans to kill him.

His growing fear of being killed led him to request extra security measures from the Americans, who put up more concrete barriers around his house.

"I got a letter from the Americans saying that there is a plot against me," he said.

"Then some other friends in high positions also told me the same thing. These are evil people`s designs."

When asked who might want to kill him, he replied: "I don`t know." But he went on to suggest the outgoing government of his rival, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, might be aiding the work of those targeting him, said The Times.

His comments came after two members of his Iraqiya list
were shot dead in
recent weeks in the main northern city of Mosul.

He claimed he asked the government for more protection
around his home but security officials refused, so he turned
to the Americans who agreed to put up extra barriers.

"This is more protection than I have ever had before,
even at the height of the violence two, three, four years
ago," he said.

While Allawi`s Iraqiya bloc came first in the March 7
election with 91 seats in the 325-member parliament, no group
has yet assembled the parliamentary majority necessary to form
a government.